A couple of hundred km down the coast from Finale lies La Spezia, a slightly unlovely port city in a beautiful setting.

The harbour is at the southern end of the Cinque Terre National Park, a protected promentary of huge limestone spires jutting straight out of the sea, dotted with very quaint fishing villages – including Porto Venare

A damp start didn’t look too promising, but we checked out the most popular crag – the quarried wall of Parete Centrale.

Dropping further down the cliff you reach some really impressive territory at Parete delle Meraviglie. The Wall of Wonders.

Now that’s more like it!